Please note that this text-only version, provided for ease of printing and reading, includes approximately 75 pages and may take up to 20 minutes to print. By clicking on one of these links, you may go directly to a particular text-only section: Introduction The National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places and the City of Charleston, South Carolina, proudly invite you to discover Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings. Charleston sits on a narrow peninsula where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet as they flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The community named for King Charles of England was established in 1670, became the center of the Carolina colony, the eighth state to join the Union, and the cultural center of the antebellum South. Charleston was the destination for peoples throughout Europe, Africa, and the Carribean, who have collectively shaped this unique region. This National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary explores Charleston's rich heritage using 43 historic places that reflect over 300 years of history, from the early Walled City of the British colony, through the prosperous growth of the shipping industry and surrounding plantations, its role in the events leading up to the Civil War, the resurgence of the community during the late 19th century, and the establishment of one of the most complete and intact historic districts in the country. The city of Charleston is already a well-known tourist destination because of its history and pioneering efforts in preservation. This itinerary focuses on the variety of buildings that tell the stories of its religious and community history. Numerous religious denominations have been active in Charleston for centuries. Beautiful St. Philip's Episcopal Church was the first Anglican congregation established south of Virginia. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim is the country's second oldest synagogue and the birthplace of the American Reform Judaism movement. The itinerary also includes less well-known churches which represent the spiritual diversity that the city was built upon, such as the Emanuel AME Church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South, First Scots Presbyterian, established in 1731 by 12 Scottish families, and St. Mary's, the first Roman Catholic Church in the Carolinas and Georgia. The majority of Charleston's public and community buildings reflect a time when it was one of the wealthiest and most important port cities of the colonies and young country. Major events that shaped the future of the colony took place at the Exchange. The Market Hall and Sheds provided fresh meat and produce for the same city dwellers that formed social and benevolent groups such as the South Carolina Society Hall and the German Friendly Society. St. Michael's Episcopal Church, the United States Post Office, the Charleston County Courthouse, and Charleston City Hall form the city's civic center, known as the Four Corners of the Law. Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings offers numerous ways to discover the historic properties that played important roles in the establishment of Charleston's civic, cultural, and spiritual community. Each property features a brief description of the site's significance, color and historic photographs, and public accessibility information. At the bottom of each page, the visitor will also find a navigation bar containing links to three essays concerning Charleston and Preservation, Religious Architecture, and Community History. These essays provide historical background, or "contexts," for many of the sites included in the itinerary. The itinerary can be viewed online, or printed out for use by visitors to Charleston. Created through a partnership between the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places, the City of Charleston's Department of Planning and Urban Development, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), and the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC), Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings is the third example of a new and exciting cooperative project. As part of the Department of the Interior's strategy to revitalize communities by promoting public awareness of history and encouraging tourists to visit historic places throughout the nation, the National Register of Historic Places is cooperating with communities, regions and Heritage Areas throughout the United States to create online travel itineraries. Using places listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the itineraries help potential visitors plan their next trip by highlighting the amazing diversity of this country's historic places and supplying accessibility information for each featured site. In the Learn More section, the itineraries link to regional and local web sites that provide visitors with further information regarding cultural events, special activities, and lodging and dining possibilities. Visitors may be interested in Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, located in Charleston. Charleston is the third of a number of communities and regions that have worked directly with the National Register of Historic Places to create travel itineraries. The National Register of Historic Places and the City of Charleston hope you enjoy this virtual travel itinerary of the city's historic resources. If you have any comments or questions, please just click on the provided e-mail address, "comments or questions" located at the bottom of each page. After Charles II was restored to the English throne, he granted the chartered Carolina territory to eight of his loyal friends, known as the Lord Proprietors, in 1663. It took seven years before the Lords could arrange for settlement, the first being that of Charles Town. The community named for the King Charles I was established by English settlers in 1670 across the Ashley River from the city's current location. It was soon chosen by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, one of the Lord Proprietors, to become a "great port towne," a destiny which the city fulfilled. By 1680, the settlement had grown, joined by others from England, Barbados, and Virginia, and relocated to its current peninsular location. The capital of the Carolina colony, Charleston was the center for further expansion and the southernmost point of English settlement during the late 1600s. The settlement was often subject to attack from sea and from land. Periodic assaults from Spain and France, who still contested England's claims to the region, were combined with resistance from American Indians as well as pirate raids. Charleston's colonists erected a fortification wall around the small settlement to aid in its defense. The only building to remain from the Walled City is the Powder Magazine, where the city's supply of gun powder was stored. A 1680 plan for the new settlement, the Grand Modell, laid out "the model of an exact regular town," and the future for the growing community. Land surrounding the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets was set aside for a Civic Square. Over time it became known as the Four Corners of the Law, referring to the various arms of governmental and religious law presiding over the square and the growing city. St. Michael's Episcopal, Charleston's oldest and most noted church, was built on the southeast corner in 1752. The following year the Capitol of the colony was erected across the square. Because of its prominent position within the city and its elegant architecture, the building signaled to Charleston's citizens and visitors its importance within the British colonies. Provincial court met on the ground floor, the Commons House of Assembly and the Royal Governor's Council Chamber met on the second floor. While the earliest settlers primarily came from England, colonial Charleston was also home to a mixture of ethnic and religious groups. French, Scottish, Irish and Germans migrated to the developing seacoast town, representing numerous Protestant denominations, as well as Catholicism and Judaism. Sephardic Jews (of Spanish and Portugese ancestry) migrated to the city in such numbers that Charleston became one of the largest Jewish communities in North America. The Jewish Coming Street Cemetery, first established in 1762, attests to their long standing presence in the community. The first Anglican church, St. Philip's Episcopal, was built in 1682, although later destroyed by fire and relocated to its current location. Slaves also comprised a major portion of the population, and were active in the city's religious community. Free black Charlestonians and slaves helped establish the Old Bethel United Methodist Church in 1797, and the congregation of the Emanuel A.M.E. Church stems from a religious group organized solely by African Americans, free and slave, in 1791. By the mid-18th century Charleston had become a bustling trade center, and the wealthiest and largest city south of Philadelphia. Rice and indigo had been successfully cultivated by gentleman planters in the surrounding coastal lowcountry, while merchants profited from the successful shipping industry. As the relationship between the colonists and England deteriorated, Charleston became a focal point in the ensuing Revolution. In protest of the Tea Act of 1773, which embodied the concept of "taxation without representation," Charlestonians confiscated tea and stored it in the Exchange and Custom House. Representatives from all over the colony came to the Exchange in 1774 to elect delegates to the Continental Congress, the group responsible for drafting the Declaration of Independence; and South Carolina declared its independence from the crown on the steps of the Exchange. Soon, the church steeples of Charleston, especially St. Michael's, became targets for British war ships. A siege on the city in 1776 was successfully defended by William Moultrie from Sullivan's Island, but by 1780 Charleston came under British control for two and a half years. After the British retreated in December 1782, the city's name was officially changed to Charleston. By 1788, Carolinians were meeting at the Capitol building for the Constitutional Ratification Convention, and while there was support for the Federal Government, division arose over the location of the new State Capital. A suspicious fire broke out in the Capitol building during the Convention, after which the delegates removed to the Exchange and decreed Columbia the new State Capital. By 1792, the Capitol had been rebuilt and became the Charleston County Courthouse. Upon its completion, the city possessed all the public buildings necessary to be transformed from a colonial capital to the center of the antebellum South. But the grandeur and number of buildings erected in the following century reflect the optimism, pride, and civic destiny that many Charlestonians felt for their community. As Charleston grew, so did the community's cultural and social opportunities, especially for the elite merchants and planters. The first theater building in America was built in Charleston in 1736, but was later replaced by the 19th-century Planter's Hotel where wealthy planters stayed during Charleston's horse-racing season (now the Dock Street Theatre). Benevolent societies were formed by several different ethnic groups: the South Carolina Society, founded by French Huguenots in 1737; the German Friendly Society, founded in 1766; and the Hibernian Society, founded by Irish immigrants in 1801. The Charleston Library Society was established in 1748 by some wealthy Charlestonians who wished to keep up with the scientific and philosophical issues of the day. This group also helped establish the College of Charleston in 1770, the oldest college in South Carolina and the 13th college in the United States. Charleston became more prosperous in the plantation dominated economy of the post-Revolutionary years. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 revolutionized this crop's production, and it quickly became South Carolina's major export. Cotton plantations relied heavily on slave labor. Slaves were also the primary labor force within the city, working as domestics, artisans, market workers or laborers. Many black Charlestonians spoke Gullah, a dialect based on African American structures which combined African, Portuguese, and English words. By 1820 Charleston's population had grown to 23,000, with a black majority. When a massive slave revolt planned by Denmark Vesey, a free black, was discovered in 1822, such hysteria ensued amidst white Charlestonians and Carolinians that the activities of free blacks and slaves were severely restricted. Hundreds of blacks, free and slave, and some white supporters involved in the planned uprising were held in the Old Jail. It also was the impetus for the construction of a new State Arsenal in Charleston. As Charleston's government, society and industry grew, commercial institutions were established to support the community's aspirations. The Bank of South Carolina, the second oldest building constructed as a bank in the nation, was established here in 1798. Branches of the First and Second Bank of the United States were also located in Charleston in 1800 and 1817. While the First Bank was converted to City Hall by 1818, the Second Bank proved to be a vital part of the community as it was the only bank in the city equipped to handle the international transactions so crucial to the export trade. By 1840, the Market Hall and Sheds, where fresh meat and produce were brought daily, became the commercial hub of the city. The slave trade also depended on the port of Charleston, where ships could be unloaded and the slaves sold at markets. In the first half of the 19th century, South Carolinians became more devoted to the idea that state's rights were superior to the Federal government's authority. Buildings such as the Marine Hospital ignited controversy over the degree in which the Federal government should be involved in South Carolina's government, society, and commerce. During this period over 90 percent of Federal funding was generated from import duties, collected by custom houses such as the one in Charleston. In 1832 South Carolina passed an ordinance of nullification, a procedure in which a state could in effect repeal a Federal law, directed against the most recent tariff acts. Soon Federal soldiers were dispensed to Charleston's forts and began to collect tariffs by force. A compromise was reached by which the tariffs would be gradually reduced, but the underlying argument over state's rights would continue to escalate in the coming decades. Charleston remained one of the busiest port cities in the country, and the construction of a new, larger United States Custom House began in 1849, but its construction was interrupted by the events of the Civil War. In 1860, the National Democratic Convention convened in Charleston. Hibernian Hall served as the headquarters for the delegates supporting Stephen A. Douglas, who it was hoped would bridge the gap between the northern and southern delegates on the issue of extending slavery to the territories. The convention disintegrated when delegates were unable to summon a two-thirds majority for any candidate. This divisiveness resulted in a split in the Democratic party, and the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate. On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina legislature was the first state to vote for secession from the Union. They asserted that one of the causes was the election to the presidency of a man "whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery." On January 9, 1861, Citadel cadets fired the first shots of the Civil War when they opened fire on a Union ship entering Charleston's harbor. April 2, 1861, shore batteries under the command of General Pierre G. T. Beauregard opened fire on the Union-held Fort Sumter in the harbor. After a 34-hour bombardment, Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Cadets from the Citadel, South Carolina's liberal arts military college, continued to aid the Confederate army by helping drill recruits, manufacture ammunition, protect arms depots, and guard Union prisoners. The city under siege took control of Fort Sumter, became the center for blockade running, and was the site of the first submarine warfare in 1863. In 1865, Union troops moved into the city, and took control of many sites, such as the United States Arsenal which the Confederate army had seized at the outbreak of the war. After the eventual and destructive defeat of the Confederacy, Federal forces remained in Charleston during the city's reconstruction. The war had shattered the prosperity of the antebellum city. Freed slaves were faced with poverty and discrimination. Industries slowly brought the city and its inhabitants back to a renewed vitality and growth in population. As the city's commerce improved, Charlestonians also worked to restore their community institutions. In 1867 Charleston's first free secondary school for blacks was established, the Avery Institute. General William T. Sherman lent his support to the conversion of the United States Arsenal into the Porter Military Academy, an educational facility for former soldiers and boys left orphaned or destitute by the war. The William Enston Home, a planned community for the city's aged and infirm, was built in 1889. An elaborate public building, the United States Post Office and Courthouse, was completed in 1896 and signaled renewed life in the heart of the city. In 1886 Charleston was nearly destroyed by a major earthquake that was felt as far away as Boston and Bermuda. Few buildings escaped damage. Coupled with fires, hurricanes, tornados, several wars, and urban renewal in the 20th century, it is extraordinary how many of Charleston's historic buildings remain. Today the city's community buildings help to make Charleston one of the most complete historic districts in the country, with more than 1400 historically significant buildings. Essay on Religious Architecture Charleston's church architecture, like the city's architecture in general, is overwhelmingly of English derivation, as might be expected in an English colonial establishment which has been referred to as a "Little London." Georgian Palladian During the Colonial era the prevailing architecture was English Georgian, which was founded securely on the work of the late Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, as interpreted by Indigo Jones and subsequent English architects. In church building, the translation of Palladio's influence came through the designs of Christopher Wren and James Gibbs. Although South Carolina's religious freedom (for all non-Catholics) attracted many Dissenters, the Church of England was the established church after 1706. Even before that, the '"English Church" was dominant> and ' its houses of worship were public buildings. The first structure of St. Philip's Church, the first Anglican parish, was erected in 1681-82 at the southeast comer of the Meeting and Broad Streets, the site now occupied by St. Michael's Church. John Oldmixon wrote in 1708 that it was "large and stately enough," and the "most remarkable" of the town's public buildings. It was built of black cypress upon a brick foundation. The intriguing question is whether or not this first "English Church" had a tall pointed steeple inspired by Wren's steepled churches in London, built after the Great Fire of 1666. The Gothic steeple had been in disfavor, due to the influence of the Italian Renaissance, until it was revived by Wren and classicized through the use of arches, pilasters and other devices. It is not impossible that the first St. Philip's had such a classicized steeple. On the other hand, the Congregational, Anabaptist and French Calvinist churches and the Quaker Meeting House, all of which were built about the same time, were simple, steepleless structures, more a tribute to the Lords Proprietors' guarantee of liberty of conscience than to the architectural aspirations of their congregations. Colonial Charleston was the wealthiest of English cities in America, and the city's elite maintained close ties with London. That a sophisticated taste in architecture was present early in Charleston was illustrated by the second St. Philip's Church, built in 1710-23. The brick church featured not only a steeple but also three monumental Roman Doric porticoes, depicted in an illustration from London's Gentleman's Magazine in 1753. The steeple, a polygonal tower topped by a polygonal lantern, dome and cupola, perhaps was based on the steeple of Wren's St. Magnus the Martyr, London, or on that of St. Ignatius, the Jesuit church at Antwerp. St. Philip's undoubtedly was the most sophisticated church building in the English colonies when it was built. It antedated Christ Church in Philadelphia, which was the second church in America to use an applied order, and Peter Harrison's King's Chapel in Boston, the second church for which a giant order portico was designed. The English aesthete Edmund Burke later described St. Philip's as "spacious, and executed in a very handsome taste, exceeding everything of that kind which we have in America." The proud new edifice was sited to protrude into Church Street, so that the tower and porticoes provided a terminus to the vista. The siting of the church as a vistal terminus reflected a Baroque city planning concept, prototypes of which included similar building sitings in some of the plans for rebuilding the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666. The taste for Palladian and Wren-Gibbs design outlasted the Colonial era, and Charleston's conservatism in that regard triumphed in the rebuilding of St. Philip's Church following a fire in 1835. During a debate on the design of the replacement structure, the view was expressed that Charleston's older buildings were superior, in design and construction, to those in the newer 19th century styles. As a result, St. Philip's vestry insisted that architect Edward Hyde rebuild the Georgian church exactly as it had been before the fire, Hyde acceded to their request except for minor changes on the exterior, but persuaded them to let him model the new interior after that of James Gibbs' St, Martin's-in-the-Fields. A decade later, the vestry commissioned architect Edward Brickell White to design the present steeple, in the Wren-Gibbs tradition. The third St. Philip's might be considered anticipatory of the Colonial Revival movement of the late 19th century, if it were not for the motivation of the conservative vestry and congregation. Their goal was not to revive the architecture of the past, which would have been an innovative step, but to continue it. Therefore St. Philip's has to be cited as a rare instance of "Georgian Survival." White's 1849 steeple for St. Philip's did not replicate its domed predecessor but was consciously patterned after, and made intentionally higher than, the steeple of St. Michael's Church. St. Michael's Church remains Charleston's oldest church edifice. An Irish architect, Samuel Cardy, built and largely designed St. Michael's Church, erected in 1751-61 on the site of the first St. Philip's, at the southeast corner of Broad and Meeting streets. Like St. Philip's, St. Michael's exemplifies the Wren-Gibbs tradition of American Colonial church building. Like many Colonial churches of the period, it was inspired by James Gibbs' design for St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, c. 1726, and many of its details are reminiscent of plates from Gibbs' A Book of Architecture, published in 1728. The initial design of St. Michael's was by a Mr. Gibson (possibly Robert Gibson, Sr). However, Cardy, who became involved in the project after construction had begun, significantly altered the original plan. Cardy was responsible for the remarkable ceiling, which spans some 60 feet without visible support, being carried on hidden trusses. In that feature, St. Michael's recalls churches of Sir Nicholas Hawksmoor, such as St. Alfege's, Greenwich (1713-18), rather than St. Martin's, which has arches on columns supporting the ceiling (and which provided the model for the interior of the third St. Philip's, as noted above). Cardy also contributed the steeple, which has three octagonal upper tiers over a square tower. Cardy solved the problem of supporting the diagonal faces of the octagon over the voids at the comers of the square, by carrying them on corbelled brick half arches, known as "squinches," which span the corners of the square. Robert Mills America's first native-born professional architect, the Charlestonian Robert Mills, designed for several Charleston congregations. MiIls had a varied architectural background. He studied under James Hoban, a Palladian traditionalist who was the architect of the White House; he was a protegee of Thomas Jefferson, who defined his own style at Monticello; and he worked under Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who brought Rational Neoclassicism from Europe to America. The latter was based on the philosophe Laugier's Essai sur architecture, in which he advocated a more functional approach to classical architecture, anticipating Louis Sullivan and the Beaux Arts. Although French in origin, the Rational Neoclassical in America was based mainly on the English version, as evoked by Sir John Soane and George Dance, whose work was studied by Latrobe, Mills developed a distinctive Millsian style, a robust and geometric form of Rational Neoclassicism, but the influence of all his teachers is evident in his buildings as well, including the more conservative elements. Mills' first major contribution to Charleston architecture was the design of the Circular Congregational Church, built in 1804-06, which was the first Pantheon-like church in America. In the Circular Church he employed a dome of laminated ribs, such as was found in Jefferson's copy of Philibert Delorme's Invention pur batir les couvertures courbes, and which Jefferson had used in the dome at Monticello. Afterwards, Mills used the Delorme system in round and octagonal churches in Richmond and Baltimore. Mills' plans for the Circular Congregational Church included a portico of stolid Doric columns, and no steeple, reflecting the Rational Neoclassicist influence of his mentor, Latrobe. His plans were altered by the building committee, which substituted Corinthian columns attenuated in the then-current Adamesque taste, and subsequently the portico was replaced with a more elaborate one, designed by the Charleston firm of Jones & Lee in the 1850s. Similarly, the church engaged Charles Reichardt in 1838 to add a Wren-Gibbs steeple. Reflecting the "Georgian Survival" trend noted previously at St. Philip's, Reichardt patterned the steeple closely after that of St. Michael's. The changes made the church unrecognizable as a Mills building. The original Mills design became suggestible again only after the great fire of 1861 reduced the church to a brick skeleton, In rebuilding in the 1890s, the Congregationalists kept the circular concept, but it was reinterpreted in the then-fashionable Richardsonian Romanesque style. Mills may also have designed the First Scots Presbyterian Church, built in 1814. The architect of the church has not been identified, but Mills' family were members of the congregation. The facade of the church features twin towers capped by domes, flanking a partially recessed portico. This scheme is reminiscent of Latrobe's design for St. Mary's Cathedral in Baltimore, which anteceded First Scots Presbyterian by just a few years. It should be noted that James and John Gordon, builders and designers of the Second Presbyterian Church and St. Paul's, Radcliffeboro (see below) also were members of First Scots Presbyterian. Mills was especially proud of his design for the First Baptist Church in Charleston, built ca. 1818. He described it as "purely Grecian in its style, simply grand in its proportions, and beautiful in its detail." The superlatives are true, except the building is not "purely Greek." The portico, with its Roman Doric columns, is more Palladian-Georgian than Greek Revival. The portico is not an integral component, as is the portico of a Classical temple, but is appendaged to the rectangular body of the church in the Wren-Gibbs tradition. The use of two tiers of arched windows along the sides also constitutes a continuation of Georgian tradition. Such conservative features may reflect the lingering influence of his early training under Hoban. However, newer Rational Neoclassical concepts are revealed in the simplification of ornament, the differentiation of the parts of the building -- portico, vestibule, auditorium -- and in the massy, windowless attic, reminiscent of the work of the French Rational Neoclassicist, Claude-Nicholas Ledoux, as well as some work of Latrobe. The church formerly had a domed cupola, as well, reminiscent of Latrobe's design for St. Paul's in Washington, built in 1815. Jeffersonian Classicism Mills' mentor Thomas Jefferson developed his own style in his Virginia buildings, characterized by Roman Doric porticoes and arched openings, and fanlights everywhere, including the pediment of the portico. Two Charleston churches, Second Presbyterian and St. Paul's, Radcliffeboro (the latter now the Cathedral of St. Luke and St.Paul), are in this style. Both were designed and built by the Gordon brothers, James and John, ca. 1809-1811. Both also developed structural problems in their towers, so that their steeples were never completed. Second Presbyterian's tower was capped by a simple lantern, while that of St. Paul's was topped off, incongruously, by a Gothic parapet. Greek Revival The first of the popular 19th century eclectic styles to arrive in Charleston was the academic Greek Revival, which was based on a study of the temple architecture of classical Greece. There had been little interest in Greek architecture, since the Italian Renaissance chauvinistically based its architecture on Roman models which were considered superior to their Greek prototypes. Interest in Greek forms was stimulated in the mid-18th century by scholarly expeditions to Greece and by the publication of works such as The Antiquities of Athens, containing on-site drawings of classical Greek ruins by the English architects Nicholas Revett and James Stuart. The architects of the academic Greek Revival movement sought to design modern buildings using authentic Greek elements of design, gleaned from the study of prototypes in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. In Charleston's church architecture the Greek Revival had a flowering after the great fire of 1838. The fire reduced to rubble a large part of the King and Meeting streets commercial area, and most of Ansonborough, a residential neighborhood. The fire, though tragic, nevertheless provided a unique opportunity for the Greek Revival. The majority of structures built in the burnt district during the years after the fire were in that style, and the neighborhood is sprinkled liberally with temple-form buildings. One of the new churches in the "burnt district" was the Doric temple Second Baptist Church (now the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church), built in 1842. It was designed by Edward Brickell White, the local architect most identified with the Greek Revival. White felt obliged to defend his design after the church authorities altered his plans to place two additional doors in the facade, behind columns. This, he pointed out, was a departure from precedents in Greek temple design. One of the most beautiful of the Greek temple-form houses of worship in the "burnt district" is Temple Beth Elohim, built -in 1840-41. It was designed for the Reform Jewish congregation by a New York architect, Cyrus Warner. The academicists would have protested that, while its massive fluted Doric columns are authentic, the spacing of the triglyphs, and metopes in the entablature is more Georgian than Greek, and the ceding of the sanctuary has an ornamental saucer dome, which, while gorgeous, is more Roman than Greek. However, those not hemmed by 19th century academic constraints will agree that, although the ensemble is not "purely Greek," the result is superb. Gothic Revival The Gothic Revival movement was based on an earnest theological justification for the Gothic as the most proper Christian architecture. The intellectual foundation of this "Ethical Gothic" premise was established in the writings of the British architect Augustus Northmore Welby Pugin, whose conversion to Roman Catholicism guided him to a desire to revive England's medieval Catholic architecture. His ideas were presented in his influential works, Contrasts, or a Parallel between the Noble Edifices of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries and Similar Buildings of the Present Day, published in 183 6, and The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture, published in 1841. Pugin's ideals evoked a response among Protestants as well, as they paralleled the ideas of reformers within the Church of England and the Anglican academic community. John Henry Newman and others began in 1833 the Oxford Movement which sought to restore ritual and liturgical richness to the Church of England. The Cambridge Camden Society (later known as the Ecclesiological Society) was formed at Oxford in 1836 by scholars with a common interest in medieval Christian architecture, who advocated through their publication, The Ecclesiologist. For that reason, the Ethical Gothic is also known as the Ecclesiological Gothic. In the United States, the British born architect, Richard Upjohn, was a subscriber to The Ecclesiologist. His Trinity Church in New York, 1839-1841, had no galleries (which the Ecclesiologists condemned) and introduced a raised altar, an extended chancel and a cross-topped spire (all of which they promoted). The church was built of stone (which they advocated) but the interior vaulting was not executed in stone, but simulated in lath and plaster (of which neither the Ecclesiologists, nor Pugin would have approved). Charleston architect Edward Brickell White made a "visit [to] the Northern Cities, on professional, calls," in 1842, when Upjohn's Trinity Church was under construction. Subsequently, he designed the Huguenot Church, built in 1844-45. The Huguenot Church was praised locally as "the only specimen of pointed, or emphatically Christian Church Architecture, which has ever been erected in our city." The language indicates a knowledge of Pugin's works, and the design indicates possible direct references to them. In the use of materials, the church owes no allegiance to Pugin or The Ecclesiologist. The crockets and finials, tracery of the principal window, and dripstones are all of cast iron, and the vaulting inside is simulated in lath and plaster. The church is unusual in that it has no tower and spire. It is a simple rectangle with a tent-like roof. White became South Carolina's foremost Goth, designing Gothic churches, including Grace Church in Wentworth Street, and other structures in Charleston and elsewhere. Grace follows Ethical strictures in having no galleries and is topped by a graceful steeple. However, White employed no stone; the materials, like those of the Huguenot Church, were stuccoed brick, lath and plaster, and cast iron. In the 1970s, White's cast iron crockets, having deteriorated in Charleston's damp climate, were replicated in fiberglass. The Ethical Gothic fervor inevitably faded, but interest in the Gothic continued. The later Gothic Revival drew inspiration from periods other than the "Middle Pointed" promoted by Pugin and the Ecclesiologists as the ideal. When Francis D. Lee Gothicized the late 18th century structure of the Unitarian Church in 1852-54, he employed the late Gothic of the Tudor period, which the Ethicists had considered debased. Lee gave the church a handsome perpendicular tower, and a magnificent fan-vaulted ceiling, the latter inspired perhaps by ceilings of the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster and the cloisters at Gloucester. Lee designed a similar ceiling for St. Luke's Church (now the Fourth Tabernacle Baptist Church), ca. 1859. The Brooklyn, New York, based Patrick Charles Keely, an Irish-born architect, designed literally hundreds of Catholic churchs in the United States, including three in Charleston. Keely claimed to have been a student of Pugin, England's premier Gothicist. In the 1850s Keely designed the Cathedral of St. Finbar, which was lost in the great fire of 1861, as well as its successor on the same site, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, begun after the 1886 earthquake. The two cathedrals followed the Ethical requirement to be built of stone (Connecticut brownstone) in emulation of the medieval prototypes, and manifested similar but differing versions of Gothic design. Keely also designed the Gothic Revival edifice of St. Patrick's Church, built 1886-87. John Henry Devereux, the most prolific architect of the post-Civil War era, designed two Gothic Revival churches in the city. St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, built in 1867-71, originally was polychromed, its stuccoed surface scored and overlayed with paint, mixed with sand, to simulate blocks of different colored stone. That colorful scheme reflected the influence of the English aesthete John Ruskin, who in works such as The Stones of Venice, advocated the use of polychromed stone in church architecture. Romanesque Revival Another popular 19th century style for church buildings was the Romanesque Revival. The style was derived from earlier medieval church architecture, before the rise of the Gothic, and is distinguished from the latter mainly in the use of round, rather than pointed, arches. The firm of Jones & Lee (Edward C. Jones and Francis D. Lee) of Charleston designed the Citadel Square Baptist Church in 1855-56, employing the Norman mode of the Romanesque Revival style for the edifice. The design of Citadel Square Baptist deviated from the model by the use of a steeple (Romanesque churches had bell towers, whereas the steeple spire was a Gothic innovation). The steeple was blown over by a hurricane and the tower was damaged by an earthquake. The tower was repaired and given a lower steeple, designed by Edward Silloway, a Boston architect. Silloway's steeple was lost in a hurricane (Hugo) in 1989, and replaced by a new steeple along the lines of the original, design by Jones & Lee. Richardsonian Romanesque The Romanesque Revival of the antebellum period was based mainly on examples in Northwestern Europe. In the late 19th century, another version of the Romanesque was developed by the Boston architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, based on churches of Provence and Spain. Used for the first time in the 1870s in his Trinity Church, Boston, the Richardsonian Romanesque became widely popular in the ensuing decades. Charleston's best Richardsonian Romanesque building is the Circular Congregational Church, built in the 1890s to replaced Mills' burned predecessor. Designed by the firm of Stevenson and Green, it features as massive central tower, somewhat reminiscent of Richardson's Trinity Church. Although the "Circular" remains part of the name, the present structure is not really circular but tri-apsidal. Written by Robert P. Stockton, adjunct professor of history at the College of Charleston. It is no accident that Charleston, South Carolina, is a locus for the modern preservation movement. For nearly 100 years, generations of Charlestonians have been aware of this city's singular sense of place. Since the turn of the 20th century, individuals, organizations, and government have established and promoted a preservation ethic. The roots of preservation run deep. In 1783, Charleston established itself as a municipal government with the motto: "She guards her customs, buildings and laws." Early on Charleston embraced one extremely important notion of what a city should be: guardian of its cultural, physical and social structures. Charleston's unique environment, people, and circumstances contributed to a tradition of preserving and protecting the physical evidence of past generations. Over the past century, Charlestonians have moved from saving individual buildings to entire neighborhoods to maintain the city's unique sense of place. 1900 - 1930: PRESERVATION AS NATIONALISM Early preservation efforts had a specific ideological motivation: saving the city's remaining colonial era structures for educational purposes. In the early 1900s, Charlestonians like other Americans shared a growing interest in the beginnings of the country. This rise of nationalism is best represented by the efforts of the National Society of Colonial Dames and its sister organization, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Charleston's local chapters took up the charge of stimulating interest and pride in the nation through the preservation of the city's earliest buildings. In 1902 the Colonial Dames acquired the pre-revolutionary Powder Magazine, one of the oldest remaining structures associated with the permanent settlement of Charleston of 1680. Meanwhile, the DAR acquired the Old Exchange one of the city's most prominent buildings, from the federal government. The motivation in both cases was the same: to acquire and preserve those buildings associated with past events which would physically reflect Charleston's contribution to the development of the nation. The most notable individual of the time was a real estate agent, Susan Pringle Frost. For nearly nine years she worked independently to save historic residences in the city. She gathered a group of like-minded citizens, and in 1920 the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings was formally established. In the 1920s, supported by the United States Supreme Court Euclid decision which held zoning as a valid municipal police power, cities began to enact local laws regulating property use. In Charleston the city council established a Special Committee on Zoning to draft an ordinance to prohibit specific uses south of Broad Street, then perceived as the city's heaviest concentration of important historic buildings. Upon adoption of the ordinance, the special committee was permanently established as the Committee on Planning and Zoning, now known as the planning and zoning commission. The use of zoning regulations specifying a city's historic significance and the importance of protection set the standard for hundreds of cities. 1931-1966: FORMALIZATION OF AN ETHIC In the next 35 years, historic preservation became a formal, institutionalized ethic. The Society continued to stimulate interest in the preservation of historically important buildings and encourage private sector involvement in the preservation of individual structures. Existing civic and newly formed nonprofit organizations focused on increased awareness of good planning and preservation principles; and on securing buildings from inappropriate development through outright ownership. Their efforts, combined with the infusion of preservation objectives into government regulations, would make a significant impact on the city and set an example for the nation. The work initiated in 1929 by the Special Committee on Zoning resulted in the hiring of a planning consultant, Morris Knowles, from Pittsburgh, Pa. Knowles conducted a survey with the assistance of Albert Simons which identified a relatively small but extremely important area of 18th-century buildings. His work also took into account a variety of planning issues relating to parks, schools and land utilization. Ultimately this work formed the basis for a city plan and zoning ordinance. Although the plan was never adopted, the city council did ratify the proposed (historic district) zoning ordinance on October 13, 1931. The opening sentence of the ordinance clearly stated its purpose: "In order to promote general welfare through the preservation and protection of historic places and areas of historic interest...", leaving no doubt as to the city's intention. For the first time groups or areas of buildings were designated as significant and worthy of protection. The blending of planning and preservation goals was unique and a revolutionary concept for its time. The city council also created the Board of Architectural view (BAR) and the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Although the powers of the review board were limited to reviewing demolition requests within the area specified, the formal plan submission and review procedures opened an avenue for negotiation which heretofore never existed. The board's role was that of a negotiator, working with applicants to find mutually acceptable solutions to design problems. During the late 1930s Charleston utilized federal sources of money for preservation purposes. In 1938 when a tornado struck, federal assistance was used to mitigate the damage to historic structures. The city also used available federal funding under Roosevelt's New Deal to provide public housing. In 1939 the city razed a number of dilapidated buildings outside the historic district defined by the 1931 ordinance. The most valuable antebellum structures were saved and incorporated into the new multi-family housing project. Although this was the only time the Housing Authority of Charleston restored historic buildings for housing, in subsequent years it rehabilitated the Marine Hospital (1833) by Robert Mills and the adjacent City Jail for administrative functions. As community interest in historic preservation grew, so did the city's organizational interests. The Carolina Art Association inaugurated a citywide survey of historic and architecturally significant buildings. The survey, conducted by Helen Gardner McCormack, included 1,168 buildings. (In 1944) the Carolina Art Association published the findings of the survey as This Is Charleston, illustrating more than 500 of the surveyed structures. The result was the first publication of an architectural inventory of an American city. This simple idea of monumental proportion had a far-reaching influence on future work in the city, in other cities, and on the formation of the National Register of Historic Places. (In 1945) Kenneth Chorley, president of Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. planted the seed of what was to become Historic Charleston Foundation, Inc. (In a public speech) he pointed out the need for an independent, nongovernmental organization which could set its own agenda without ties to any existing organization or city politics. The result was the establishment of a nonprofit foundation that could own and operate historic sites and provide educational information and assistance to individuals, civic organizations, and local government following the Colonial Williamsburg model. Historic Charleston Foundation, Inc., was chartered in 1947. The foundation began a Spring Tour of Homes in 1947 fashioned after those in other southern cities that showcased restored historic sites to visiting tourists. The tours provided a public education opportunity to help fulfill the foundation's charter responsibilities. More importantly the tours provided much needed income in the years to follow. The house tour director, Frances S. Edmunds, soon became executive director and guided the foundation's activities for the next 38 years. The 1950s brought about several preservation crises, as well as a rethinking of the approach to historic preservation. The Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings was renamed the Preservation Society of Charleston, reflecting a broader definition of what was considered important to the community. In 1959 Historic Charleston Foundation began to focus on the rehabilitation of entire neighborhoods through an aggressive purchase and resale agenda. It targeted the Ansonborough neighborhood, a fine collection of post 1840 masonry dwellings. The foundation established a revolving fund and options or outright purchases were made with the idea that one or two buildings successfully restored on a street would cause others to follow. The foundation stabilized or partially rehabilitated exteriors of the buildings. The foundation placed easements on the properties before resale, establishing control over the rehabilitation and long term maintenance of the buildings. The buildings were marketed to individuals or families who would take up residence. The program gained momentum and dilapidated and often abandoned tenements gave way to single family dwellings. This innovative program added a significant new dimension to the way historic preservation was accomplished in Charleston. Although the need to react to immediate threats remained, preservation organizations were now taking a proactive, entrepreneurial role within the limits of available funding. In 1959 the city council revised the historic zoning ordinance for the first time, granting the BAR powers over demolitions and the ability to review exterior in alterations to any pre-1860 building, as well as to any building within the Old and Historic Charleston district. Although no additional area was added to the board's jurisdiction, the ordinance gave the BAR a voice. 1966-1989: MATURATION Charleston in the 1960s struggled with many of the same social and economic issues as other southern cities, the least of which was the need for inner-city economic revitalization. Public sector improvements of the time were not quite as kind. In 1967, the city of Charleston under Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard supported the removal of historic buildings for a new civic auditorium and meeting hall to bring conventions and entertainment downtown. The Preservation Society and Historic Charleston Foundation moved eight of the threatened structures to appropriate infill sites throughout the city and placed the buildings up for sale. Conversely, Mayor Gillard and the city council voted to expand the boundaries of the Old and Historic District, nearly tripling its size, to an east-west line that included one-half of the peninsula's land mass. All the buildings south of the recently constructed Septima Clark Expressway (US Highway 17) fell under the jurisdiction of the BAR, with the added power to deny demolition permanently. In 1970 the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) sought to expand its highway system west across the Ashley River. The preservation community feared the expansion would have a detrimental effect on the Old and Historic Charleston National Register District (designated in 1966). After the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation determined an adverse effect for the proposed James Island Bridge, SCDOT mitigated the effect by terminating the bridge improvement to the edge of the Ashley River at the end of Calhoun Street, away from the boundaries of the historic district. Such public sector struggles identified the need for a more comprehensive understanding of the city's resources. Not until the adoption of the Feiss-Wright Anderson Survey and Preservation Plan in 1974 was a comprehensive architectural inventory, ranking of buildings, and area plan available to the public. The first inventory since the 1944 Carolina Art Association effort, the inventory identified more than 2,800 structures. The preservation plan became the centerpiece for planning and zoning efforts on the peninsula for the next two decades. It recommended a downtown revitalization strategy and stronger enforcement of building codes and height restrictions. It also stimulated the city council to extend the Board of Architectural Review's controls further up the peninsula. The election of Joseph P. Riley, Jr. as mayor in the 1970s has had a lasting effect on this historic city. A Charleston native, son of a successful real estate and insurance businessman, graduate of The Citadel, lover of history, the arts, architecture and his city, Riley utilized the unique characteristics of Charleston as a magnet for needed economic development. At the same time he understood the need to maintain the high quality of design and construction reflected in the city's historic architecture. He also displayed a very keen sense of urban design and planning that would maintain the fabric of the city. From the beginning, his administration embraced an aggressive agenda of stimulating a city that was supported by a large military establishment (Navy and Air Force), constant port traffic, and a small tourist economy. It was not enough, however, to attract the kind of money needed to reinstate Charleston as one of the most significant and important cities along the Atlantic coast. The city commissioned Barton-Aschman Associates to develop a commercial revitalization plan for the historic commercial core of the peninsula. Noting the need for a new economic stimulant, the study provided Riley the needed support to begin his first major development project. The young and energetic Riley sought out private development to bolster the city's economy. Fearing that businesses would further abandon the city for the suburbs, as so many cities had experienced in recent years, he decided to create the needed stimulant in the commercial core. In 1978 the city announced that a hotel/convention complex, to be called Charleston Center, would be constructed on a blighted block at the most critical commercial corner in the city. The city government acquired several million dollars in HUD Urban Development Action Grant funding for the project. The proposed complex split the city's preservation community in half. Those in favor saw the development as the centerpiece of much-needed revitalization. Opponents saw it as old style urban renewal that would destroy the quality and character of the historic city. Questions over the long-term effect of the project beleaguered the city, developer, and architects for years. Finally after several developers, architects, and a myriad of lawsuits, compromises, and design changes, the center opened eight years later as Charleston Place. The final plan included a 600-room mid-block hotel, meeting/conference facility, and retail shops along the commercial street frontage. It also restored a city block of 19th-century cast-iron storefronts and returned to private ownership property not needed for the development. A year later preservationists again had to battle large-scale development. In the shadow of Charleston Place a local private developer sought to demolish the 1938 Art Deco Riviera Theater for a retail/office building. Preservationists collected more than 5,000 signatures against the project and presented the petition at the Board of Architectural Review hearing. More than 200 individuals attended the hearing to urge denial. In a unanimous decision, the board denied outright the loss of a significant landmark. This decision reflected the change in the community's attitude toward what was considered historic in a city that for decades had limited itself to protecting only the earliest of buildings and sites. The following year, in spite of this victory, the city council voted against a proposal to expand the National Register district in response to community opposition. The expansion would have included buildings south of the east-west boundary created by the Crosstown Expressway. Residents feared gentrification as a result of the designation and were confused about the role the local Board of Architectural Review would have with this national designation. Although there had been scattered interest in utilization of tax incentives in the area, a local developer attempted to force the issue of designation. His efforts failed to persuade the SHPO (State Historic Preservation Officer) to go against the local recommendation. Although the area would not carry the national recognition that it deserved, the city council amended the zoning ordinance once again to expand the role of the BAR to review all new construction within the proposed boundaries. A year and a half later a greater challenge threatened Charleston's historic resources. During the early morning hours of September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo struck the South Carolina coast northeast of the peninsula. The hurricane affected 85 percent of the city's properties. Immediately, preservation organizations formed a consortium which included the Preservation Society, Historic Charleston Foundation, the Charleston Museum, the southern regional office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and city planners. This self-initiated group assessed damage to buildings within the historic district, collected and identified significant architectural elements for salvage, and established weatherization and stabilization procedures. The group disseminated information to property owners, coordinated the efforts of volunteers from the National Park Service and the American Institute of Architects, and served as a clearinghouse for suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers of building materials. The city refused to reduce or diminish its requirements for compliance with local building codes and the BAR did not reduce its standards or relinquish the right of approval for changes within the historic district. The battle over the expansion of the National Register district was set aside in the struggle to save the city's historic resources. Uninsured or under-insured property owners cited economic hardship and demanded substitute materials and relief from standard construction practices. The BAR, however, emphatically refused to deviate from established standards by unanimous vote. This decision saved countless historic buildings from demolition and inappropriate modification. CONCLUSION
Within the past decade renewed emphasis has been placed on the preservation planning process. South Carolina now requires a historic preservation component in the legally mandated comprehensive planning process. Charleston 2000: The City of Charleston's Comprehensive Plan clearly spells out historic preservation goals and objectives as a major component. Since the city's incorporation 215 years ago, Charlestonians have been aware of the need to preserve its urban environment. For nearly a century, citizens have acted to preserve the city's most important buildings. And for the past 55 years urban design and planning have been a means to historic preservation. The work of individuals, organizations, and government have all contributed to the preservation of the city's resources. More importantly it is the respect and cooperation each has shown to the other that makes not only the process but the result unique. It is not a collection of buildings or the city's urban structure that has made this city successful. It is its people. With permission from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, this article is exerpted directly from "CHARLESTON: Guarding Her Customs, Buildings, and Laws", published in the Fall 1998 issue of Preservation Forum, written by Charles Edwin Chase, AIA. Chase is the former city architect and preservation officer with the City of Charleston, South Carolina, and now with the San Francisco Architectural Heritage Alliance. William Enston Home Parish House Charleston Library Society South Carolina Bank of Charleston Farmers and Exchange Bank Exchange and Provost Building First Baptist Church Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Charles Pinckney National Historic The William Enston Home is an early example of a planned community for the elderly. Developed in the late 19th century, the home is comprised of 24 residential cottages; Memorial Hall, a community building; an infirmary; an engine house; a water tower and an entrance gate. Designed in 1889, the water tower served as the centerpiece of a model waterworks system, and the spacious, landscaped grounds exemplified suburban planning ideals of the 19th century. The buildings also constitute a significant collection of Romanesque Revival architecture, a style rare in Charleston. William Enston was the Home's philanthropic benefactor. An English immigrant to Charleston, Enston made his fortune in trade. Upon his death, he bequeathed the majority of his estate to the City of Charleston to establish a benevolent home for the city's aged and infirm residents which would "make old age comfortable." The Home was to be modeled on similar British institutions, specifically one Enston was familiar with in his native Canterbury. Enston specified that the complex be comprised of neat and convenient two-story brick cottages with at least eight acres of land. He also stipulated that potential residents be the old and sick, from 45 to 75 years old, of "good honest character," and not suffering from "lunacy." Enston's estate at his death in 1860 was valued at $1 million, but reduced by half after losses from the Civil War. The project was delayed until after Mrs. Enston's death in 1886, when the City received the whole of the estate. Charleston Mayor William A. Courtenay corresponded with the mayor of Canterbury to develop the concept for the "model village." The majority of the cottages were built in 1889 on 12 acres with shaded and stone-paved roadways, named after various English sites and historical figures. The remaining buildings were all added by the 1930s. Today the complex is owned by the Housing Authority of Charleston, and the restored cottages are home to persons of low to moderate income. The William Enston Home is located at 900 King St., at the northeast corner of Huger St. The grounds only are open to the public after check-in at the main office. Call 843-720-5347 for further information. The Porter Military Academy site reflects several eras of Charleston history--from major events in the city's settlement, to Civil War and Reconstruction, and more recently important 19th and 20th century educational institutions. As early as the 1700s, the site was used as a potter's field or pauper's graveyard. In 1825, the Federal government acquired the land for a new United States Arsenal, which was partially built sometime thereafter, and greatly enlarged in the 1840s. The Confederate army strategically seized the Arsenal at the outbreak of the Civil War, as it contained valuable arms able to supply three military divisions. Federal troops took over the Arsenal in 1865 and remained there during Reconstruction until 1879, when it was leased to Reverend Anthony Toomer Porter, a prominent educator and clergyman. Dr. Porter, a former South Carolina rice planter, entered the ministry in an attempt to bring order out of the confusion following the Civil War. In 1867, mourning the death of his own son, Reverend Porter founded the Holy Communion Church Institute with his wife, to educate former soldiers and young boys left orphaned or destitute by the war. Dr. Porter's efforts to convert the former arsenal into his expanding educational facility was strongly supported by former Union General William T. Sherman. Holy Communion Church Institute moved to the arsenal in 1880, and became known as the Porter Military Academy by the late 19th century. The school added new buildings to the complex, while using and adapting the existing arsenal buildings for educational needs. In need of a school chapel, Dr. Porter remodeled the artillery shed in 1883 by removing the roof, raising the walls, and adding a Gothic roof and stained glass windows. Now known as St. Luke's, the artillery shed's window and doorway openings are still evident in the chapel today. In 1964 the Medical University of South Carolina purchased the school. Many of the original buildings were demolished to make room for the heart of the Medical campus, but the remaining buildings represent the site's diverse history of uses. Only two remain from the Arsenal complex--St. Luke's Chapel, and Colcock Hall, one of two surviving military buildings in South Carolina built by the Confederate government. The brick walls along Ashley Avenue surrounding the school also date to the late 19th century, and are largely the work of Holten Bell, a prominent African American builder. The Waring Historical Library is the only remaining building from several built by Dr. Porter and a unique building for the State. A Gothic octagonal library with square reading rooms, the building was donated by and named for leading New York clergyman Reverend Charles Frederick Hoffman. Now known as the Waring Library, the current library commemorates Dr. Joseph I. Waring, one of the Medical school's early professors and historian. Porter Military Academy is located at 175-181 Ashley Ave. Now used by the Medical University of South Carolina, the grounds are open to the public. The Waring Historical Library is open to researchers 8:30am to 5:00 pm Monday – Friday. Call 843-792-2288 for further information. The Coming Street Cemetery, established in 1762, is the oldest Jewish burial ground in the South. Privately owned by Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue, the cemetery contains some 600 marble and brownstone grave markers. Most of the markers date to the last half of the 18th century or the first half of the 19th century, and include box tombs, table-top tombs, obelisks, and columns. Many are significant examples of gravestone art, signed by locally prominent sculptors and stonecutters. Coming Street Cemetery is located at 189 Coming Street. It is a private burial ground and not open to the public.
Central Baptist Church is thought to be one of the first black churches founded and built solely by African Americans in Charleston. The congregation was founded in 1891 by members of the Morris Street Baptist Church, which lead the way in the formation of a Negro Baptist Church association in 1867 and a statewide organization in 1876. Designed by black architect John P. Hutchinson, the Central Baptist Church was completed in 1893 and was first used by the congregation in August of that year. Architecturally, Central Baptist is an excellent example of a vernacular Carpenter Gothic style church. Victorian era churches such as this are rare in Charleston, largely due to the prevalence of well constructed churches from earlier periods. Central Baptist's architectural features typical of this style include the detailed protective hood above the central double doors and Gothic windows with plate tracery. The original octagonal belfry tower topped with a dome was replaced by a square tower in the 1950s. The church's interior contains carved wooden details, a semicircular apse with Gothic arch, and the original galleries and pews.
During its first 20 years, the church grew and prospered. This prosperity is reflected in the addition of murals depicting the scenes of the life of Christ completed from 1912 to 1915. These murals, painted by Amohamad Milai, a native of Calcutta, India, are significant works of folk art. The scenes portray the Crucifixion, the Ascension, and the Resurrection. The church continued to grow after the completion of these paintings, and still has a strong congregation. The building was renovated in 1977. Although severely damaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, the church was repaired and the interior paintings were restored in 2003. Central Baptist Church is located at 26 Radcliffe Street. The building is open to the public. Call 843-577-4543 for further information. Constructed in 1867 to 1868, the Avery Normal Institute was Charleston's first free secondary school for African Americans. Reverend F. L. Cardoza organized the school at the end of the Civil War in 1865. Cardoza received a grant of $10,000 for his school from the estate of Reverend Charles Avery of Pittsburgh, a philanthropic Methodist, for whom the school was named. Further financial assistance was received from the Freedman's Bureau, local merchants, and the American Missionary Association of New York City, who also staffed the school. Constructed by local white contractors for $17,000, the school was designed in the Italianate style with arched entry, cupola, and piazzas running the length of the building and opening into classrooms. The School operated as a private institution serving Charleston's most prominent free black families. By 1800, enrollment had reached nearly 500. In 1947, the institute became a public city school. Notable graduates of Avery Institute are T.M. Stuart, a Supreme Court Justice in Liberia; Dr. R.S. Wilkinson, President of South Carolina State College; and Richard E. Fields, the first African American in modern times to be named as Judge of the Municipal Court of Charleston, and the second black Circuit Judge. Currently known as the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, the center is part of the College of Charleston and operates as a museum and archives for African American history and culture. It is one of more than 1400 historically significant buildings within the Charleston Old and Historic District. Avery Institute is located at 125 Bull St. It is open for research 12:00pm to 5:00pm, Monday-Friday. Call 843-953-7609 for further information.
Old Bethel United Methodist Church Old Bethel United Methodist Church is the third oldest church building surviving in Charleston. The church is an architectural reminder of the significant relationship between African Americans and the Methodist Church in Charleston. Methodists conducted extensive missionary work among African Americans in South Carolina, sometimes suffering persecution for their suspected abolitionist tendencies. Indicative of the Methodist Church's philosophy of encouraging black membership, Old Bethel was founded and paid for by both black and white citizens. Construction began in 1797 and was completed in 1807. The church was originally constructed in the gabled meetinghouse style with white clapboards after a design by Francis Asbury, the first Methodist bishop in the United States. It stood at the corner of Pitt and Calhoun Streets, then the extreme northwestern part of the city. Membership in the congregation of Old Bethel was open to both free blacks and slaves. However, in 1834 a schism developed over whether blacks were to be restricted to sitting in the galleries. By 1840 the black members seceded to form their own congregation.
In 1852 the church was moved to the western portion of the lot on which it stood, to be used by the black congregation. A new church, Bethel Methodist, was built on the original site, to serve the white congregation. After the church was given to the black population, in 1880, it was moved across Calhoun Street to its present location. The addition of a gabled portico supported by four fluted Corinthian columns documents changing styles in ecclesiastical architecture. The interior of the church was likely damaged by the 1886 earthquake in Charleston, and the pressed metal ceiling and Victorian era furnishing of Old Bethel date to the end of the 19th century. The church currently serves a black congregation, which includes descendants of the 1880 congregation. Old Bethel United Methodist Church is located at 222 Calhoun St. The building is open to the public. Call 843-722-3470 for further information. The first Methodist congregation in Charleston purchased this parcel of land in 1795 and the Old Bethel United Methodist Church building was erected here in 1797. A schism between black and white members of the congregation developed in the 1830s. As a result the original church was moved to the western portion of the lot in 1852, to be used by the black Methodists. Shortly thereafter work was begun at the original site for this second Methodist Church for the white congregation. Records from 1852 indicate that the anticipated cost for the church was $18,000. The building was constructed in 1853-1854 by local architect, Mr. Curtis, who came from a family of architects and builders. Bethel Methodist Church is an exceptional example of Greek Doric Temple architecture common to antebellum churches. Even with an uncharacteristic steeply-pitched roof, the church is one of the best examples of Greek Doric temple architecture in the State. The steep pitch would have allowed rainwater to drain more quickly. The most prominent architectural feature is the massive hexastyle Doric portico, with simple pediment and entablature. Windows, chimneys, verandahs, and refined details, as well as the building's overall mass, materials, and craftsmanship are elegant and innovative. Bethel was the only Methodist church in Charleston which remained open during the Civil War, and it survived the earthquake of 1886 intact. Although there have been interior alterations, the exterior has been well-preserved. Bethel Methodist Church is located at 57 Pitt St. It is open to the public 9:00am to 4:30pm, Monday-Thursday, and 9:00am to 2:00pm on Friday. Call 843-723-4587 for further information.
The College of Charleston is the oldest municipal college in the United States, and a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1770, and chartered in 1785, the College possesses additional historical significance as the oldest institute of higher learning in South Carolina, and the 13th oldest in the country. The center of the small campus contains its core of historic mid-19th- century buildings. Three principal structures--the Main Building, the Library, and Gate Lodge--are situated around a square college green with evergreen oaks, known as The Cistern. This name is derived from a 19th-century oval cistern constructed there to hold the campus's water supply.
The founders of the college include three signers of the Declaration of Independence, and three fathers of the United States Constitution. Classes were held in former Revolutionary War barracks until the first new building was constructed. Designed by Philadelphia architect William Strickland, the simple rectangular brick Main Building was completed in 1829. In 1854 prominent local architect Edward Brickell White extensively remodeled the Main Building (now known as Randolph Hall), adding an Ionic portico and wings. White had previously designed the Gate Lodge (now Porter's Lodge), a two-story Roman Revival brick building, in 1852. The Towell Library, constructed from 1854 to 56 by George E. Walker, is a Classical Revival two-story brick building with Italianate details, now serving as administrative offices. Both the Lodge and Library have been little altered. As a whole, the complex is an outstanding example of academic architecture of the 19th century. The College of Charleston campus is approximately bounded by Calhoun, St. Philip, Wentworth, and Coming Sts.; the Cistern is located at 66 George St. The campus is open to the public. Tours are offered Monday-Friday at 10:00am, 12:00pm and 2:00pm during the school year, and at 10:00am in the summer. Pre-registration is preferred. Call 843-953-5670 for further information. St. Mathew's German Lutheran Church Patterned after typical German Gothic churches, St. Mathew's German Lutheran Church is a Gothic Revival church designed by local architect John Henry Deveraux and constructed between 1867 and 1872. An immigrant from Ireland, Deveraux became a noted architect in Charleston by the late 1860s. Its 297-foot steeple once made it the tallest building in South Carolina; it continues to possess the tallest spire. The congregation was founded originally by German-speaking Lutherans in 1840. Their first church was located at the corner of Hasell and Anson Streets, now St. Johannes's Lutheran church. As Charleston's German community grew quickly in the mid-19th century, so did the congregation, and the need for a larger church. Three thousand people gathered for the dedication ceremony of St. Mathew's in 1872. In 1965, a fire destroyed much of the interior of the church and steeple, which crashed spectacularly into King Street. The damaged portions were carefully restored except for a finial on the steeple. The iron finial, designed by prominent Charleston ironworker Christopher Werner, was prohibitively expensive to replace at $500,000. The stained glass windows in the apse and under the balcony, as well as the pulpit, are original to the building. St. Matthew's is one of more than 1400 historically significant buildings within the Charleston Old and Historic District. St. Mathew's Lutheran Church is located at 405 King St. The building is open to the public Monday-Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm. Call 843-723-1611 for further information. Previously known as the Citadel Green, Marion Square is a 10 acre rectangular plot of land that was conveyed to the colony of South Carolina in 1758. The Old Citadel, or South Carolina State Arsenal, currently sits on the north side of the square where a group of buildings known as the Tobacco Inspection once stood. These buildings were erected by the State in 1790 for the storage and inspection of tobacco prior to its shipment. The grounds of the Square served as a muster ground for the State Arsenal. At one time the Square was bisected by Lowndes Street and divided into building lots. Houses remained on the King Street side of the square until the latter part of the 19th century. Lowndes Street disappeared, but Tobacco Street, which runs along the south side of the Old Citadel, remains a dedicated public street. According to the lease agreement made with the City of Charleston, the central portion of the square is to be kept open forever as a parade ground for the Sumter Guards and the Washington Light Infantry. Marion Square also houses several monuments. The most noted is the John C. Calhoun Statue. Calhoun, a native South Carolinian, was a renowned orator, Secretary of War, U.S. Senator, and Vice President. The cornerstone, laid in 1858 before construction was halted by the Civil War, contained a cannon ball used in the Revolutionary War battle of Fort Moultrie , a banner used in Calhoun's funeral, $100 in Continental money, a lock of Calhoun's hair, and the last speech he delivered in the U.S. Senate, on March 4, 1850. The original statue was criticized for its poor casting, and replaced in 1896 with the current stone statue with cast-iron palmettos flanking its base. Marion Square also contains a remnant from the 18th century fortifications of the city; and the Bandstand, designed by August Constantine and constructed in 1944. Lately Marion Square became the site of a new Holocaust Memorial. A master plan has recently been completed for a major relandscaping and renovation project. Marion Square is one of more than 1400 historically significant sites within the Charleston Old and Historic District. Marion Square is roughly bounded by King, Calhoun, Meeting, and Tobacco Sts. The square was renovated in 2001 and is open to the public.
The South Carolina State Arsenal, more commonly known as the Old Citadel, is associated with several aspects of Charleston's history. The impetus for the Arsenal's construction in the early 1830s was the 1822 slave revolt led by Denmark Vesey. In 1842 the South Carolina Military Academy, a liberal arts military college, was established by the state legislature. The new Academy took over the arsenal the following year, and the school soon became know as The Citadel in reference to the fortress-like appearance of the building. Many Citadel alumni fought in the Civil War. Cadets remained at the school but were periodically ordered by the governor to support the Confederacy, and helped drill recruits, manufacture ammunition, protect arms depots, and guard Union prisoners. Citadel cadets were responsible for firing the first shots of the Civil War, January 9, 1861, at the Union relief vessel approaching Fort Sumter. From 1865 to 1881, during Reconstruction in Charleston, Federal troops occupied the Citadel and the school was closed. Classes resumed at the Citadel in 1882, and continued here until the school was relocated to a campus on the banks of the Ashley River in 1922.
Two well-known Charleston architects, Frederick Wesner and Edward Brickell White, are credited with the Citadel's design. The original State Arsenal building was a simple-two story brick building surrounding an interior courtyard, designed by Wesner. White was responsible for changes to the building later in the century, and added the upper floors and wings. These two periods of construction are most visible from the courtyard, where the original first floor arches are offset by tiers of smaller arches in the upper floors. Charleston County used the building for government offices during much of the 20th century. In 1994 a local development firm renovated the building for use as a hotel. The South Carolina State Arsenal is located at 337 Meeting St. Now a hotel, the building is open to the public. The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is a Gothic Revival style church built in 1891. Retaining its original alter, communion rail, pews, and light fixtures the church is one of only a few unaltered religious interiors in Charleston, especially from the Victorian period. The brick Gothic church with its tall steeple replaced an earlier 1872 church badly damaged by the 1886 earthquake. Today Emanuel is the oldest AME church in the South, and houses the oldest black congregation south of Baltimore, Maryland. The history of this congregation reflects the development of religious institutions for African Americans in Charleston. Its roots stem from a religious group of free blacks and slaves organized in 1791. In 1816, black members of Charleston's Methodist Episcopal church withdrew over disputed burial ground, and under the leadership of Morris Brown, formed a separate congregation. The church's 1400 members soon thereafter established themselves an African Methodist Episcopal church, a denomination formally established in 1816 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two years later, Brown and other ministers of the church were jailed for violating state and local laws which prohibited religious gatherings of slaves and free blacks independent of white supervision. In 1822 the church was investigated for its involvement with a planned slave revolt. Denmark Vesey, one of the church's founders, organized a major slave uprising in Charleston. Vesey was raised in slavery in the Virgin Islands among newly imported Africans. He was the personal servant of slavetrader Captain Joseph Vesey, who settled in Charleston in 1783. Denmark remained with him until in 1799, when he was able to purchase his freedom with a winning lottery ticket worth $1500. He became a successful carpenter, especially among Charleston's majority black population. Beginning in December 1821, Vesey began to organize a slave rebellion, but authorities were informed of the plot before it could take place. Three hundred thirteen alleged participants were arrested, and 35 including Vesey were executed. The plot created mass hysteria throughout the Carolinas and the South. Brown, suspected but never convicted of knowledge of the plot, went north to Philadelphia where he eventually became the second bishop of the AME denomination. During the Vesey controversy, the AME church was burned. Worship services continued after the church was rebuilt until 1834 when all-black churches were outlawed. The congregation subsequently met in secret until 1865 when it was formally reorganized, and the name Emanuel was adopted. Today, Emanuel AME Church is one of more than 1400 historically significant buildings within the Charleston Old and Historic District. The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located at 110 Calhoun St. It is open to the public Monday-Friday 9:00am to 1:00pm and 2:00pm to 4:00pm. Call 843-722-2561 for further information.
Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue, a National Historic Landmark, is the country's second oldest synagogue and the oldest in continuous use. The American Reform Judaism movement originated at this site in 1824. The congregation of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim--meaning Holy Congregation House of God--was established in colonial Charleston in 1749, and is now the nation's fourth oldest Jewish community. The building reflects the history of Jewish worship in Charleston, as well as the high degree of religious tolerance within the Carolina colony. The Beth Elohim congregation began as an Orthodox community, founded primarily by Sephardic immigrants (of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry). By the end of the 18th century the Beth Elohim congregation had become the largest Jewish community in the nation, with a membership of 500. This synagogue was built in 1840, on the site of the congregation's first synagogue destroyed in the Charleston fire of 1838. The building is an excellent example of the Greek Revival style, as its form, portico and rich ornamentation are adapted from classic Greek temples. Designed by New York architect Cyrus L. Warner, the temple was built by congregation member, David Lopez.
By 1841, the majority of the congregation was embracing Reform Judaism, and the first service held in the new temple reflected this ideology. The Reform Movement, an attempt to modernize synagogue worship and a reevaluation of Jewish theology, had its roots in Hamburg, Germany, in the 1810s, and quickly spread throughout central Europe and to the United States. Worship reform included choral singing, organ music, and the use of German instead of Hebrew for prayers and sermons. In 1824, 47 members of Beth Elohim petitioned the trustees to abridge the Hebrew rituals and conduct prayers and sermons in English. The denial of these requests resulted in a temporary split of the congregation, but by 1833 a united Beth Elohim had nearly 200 members supporting the Reform Movement. After the burning of the first synagogue and the election of a new rabbi, the inaugural service of this synagogue held in 1841 contained modernized ritual and Beth Elohim formally became the first American Reform congregation. Today, the Synagogue still serves the Reform Judaism community. A small museum contains artifacts pertinent to the history of the congregation, such as a letter written to the congregation by George Washington. Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue is located at 90 Hasell St., 10 blocks south of the temple's Coming Street Cemetery, the oldest Jewish burial ground in the South. The temple is open for tours Monday-Friday 10:00am-12:00pm; the gift shop remains open until 4:00pm. Call 843-723-1090 for further information. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church The congregation of St. Mary's was the first Roman Catholic Church in the Carolinas and Georgia. A sufficient number of Catholic immigrants had arrived in Charleston by the late 18th century, that Reverend Ryan, an Irish priest, was sent to the city in 1788. The Hasell Street site was purchased for the church by trustees one year later, and the congregation has worshiped here ever since. The congregation first worshiped in a dilapidated Methodist meeting house that was at the site. In 1801 the congregation constructed their own brick church. The Charleston fire of 1838 that burned much of the surrounding Ansonborough neighborhood also destroyed most of the Catholic church. The present building was completed in 1839 in the Classical Revival style. Its monumental form, elements and ornamental details are adapted from classic Roman architecture with typical Classical details such as its arched openings and Tuscan portico with a parapet.
Reflecting early French influence in the Charleston congregation, many of the tombstones in the churchyard are in French, and the parish registers were kept in that language until 1822. In 1960, the interior of the church was restored. The pews of the sanctuary are divided by a central aisle, above which are galleries on three sides. The painting that hangs over the altar was originally painted in 1814, and hung in the earlier brick church. Salvaged after the 1838 fire, the original artist, John S. Cogdell, was able to restore the painting. The works on the other walls and on the ceiling are copies of old masters, and were painted in Rome before being installed here in 1896. The vitality and growth of the church at the turn of the 20th century is evident in the numerous gifts to the church by parishioners, including a series of stained glass arched windows, and a polished marble altar. St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church is located at 89 Hasell St. It is open to the public Monday-Friday, 9:30am to 3:30pm. Call 843-722-7696 for further information. Market Hall and Sheds The Market Hall and Sheds, a National Historic Landmark, are the only surviving market buildings in Charleston, and one of a small number of market complexes still extant in the United States. The Market is also considered to be one of Charleston's best examples of Greek Revival style architecture, exemplified by its massive portico supported by Tuscan columns. The buildings were constructed in 1840 to 41 and were designed by prominent local architect Edward Brickell White. The Market was the commercial hub of Charleston for many years and is an important part of the city's commercial heritage. The land on which the Market sits was donated in 1788 by the Pinckney family for use as a city market. The first market buildings consisted of a beef market, country produce market and a fish market. White's 1841 market complex replaced the charred remains of these early buildings after the 1838 Charleston fire. Sheep and bull skulls decorate the stucco frieze of the Market Hall, symbolizing the presence of a meat market. The arcaded basement of the Hall is a typical characteristic of the region's architecture. The series of open-air sheds to the rear of the hall have brick columns, tile roofs, rectangular and arched openings, and some lattice work and louver panels. Meat and produce were brought to the market daily from nearby rural communities. Vendors were required to bring only fresh products. To that end, remaining products were thrown in the street at the end of the market day. Buzzards (Charleston eagles) scavenged the surrounding streets for this waste, a service so valued by Charlestonians, that the birds were protected by law. Other ordinances regulated butcher cuts and weights and required vendors to wear clean white aprons. The Market Hall is normally occupied by the Daughters of the American Revolution, a museum on the second floor, and various shops underneath. However, the Market Hall is currently closed for renovation. The Sheds continue to be used as a market place for individual vendors to sell a great variety of Low Country arts and crafts. The Market Hall and Sheds are located on Market St. between Meeting and East Bay Sts. The sheds are filled with vendors everyday around 9:00am to 6:00pm, and sometimes later on weekend evenings. Majestically overlooking East Bay Street and the harbor, the United States Custom House is one of the most striking buildings in Charleston. It is an outstanding example of a public building and reflects the time when Charleston was one of the country's busiest port cities. The cruciform building, executed in the Roman Corinthian order, is monumental in scale, measuring 259 feet on its east-west axis and 152 feet on its north-south axis. Marble is used throughout the building and highlighted in details such as office fireplaces. The interior of the building revolves around a two-story center room, called the Business Room. Fourteen Corinthian columns support its second floor gallery, and most offices open onto this room. The ceiling is ornamented with artificial sky lights, a depiction of the American flag and other patriotic symbols, and stenciled classical motifs. Prior to the construction of the Custom House, port business was transacted in the Exchange. In need of larger facilities, this site between East Bay and the Cooper River was purchased by Congress in 1849. It was formerly the site of Craven's Bastion, a colonial-era fortification. Although a competition for the design contract was won by Charleston architect Edward C. Jones, federal authorities awarded the project to Ammi Burnham Young. Young was the Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury Building, and one of 19th-century America's leading architects. His design for the Custom House apparently coordinated various elements of the competition drawings. Noted Charleston architect, Edward Brickell White acted as superintendent of construction which began in 1853. Hampered by unforseen engineering problems of the site, the building was unfinished at the outbreak of the Civil War. Construction was suspended until 1870, when architect A.B. Mullet arranged for further Congressional appropriations to complete the war damaged building. To reduce costs and hasten completion, Mullet's plan modified the east and west porticoes and omitted a dome and side porticoes of the original design. Finally complete in 1879, this building has been used ever since as a United States Custom House. A new federal building that opened in the early 1960s threatened its continued use, but due to the united support of local preservationists, legislators, and U.S. Customs Officials, the building still functions today as it was originally intended. The United State Custom House is located at 200 East Bay St., at the foot of Market St. It is not open to the public. A National Historic Landmark, the Powder Magazine, is the oldest public building in South Carolina, and reflects the city's early, sometimes volatile, history. It is the only remaining building from the era of the Lords Proprietors (the colonial governors of South Carolina), when Spain and France still contested England's claims to the region. Charles Town was the southernmost English settlement in the late 1600s, and subject to attacks by the Spanish, French, Native Americans, and pirates. Defense of the colony was a major priority and in addition to fortification walls constructed around the city the Powder Magazine was built in 1713 to store the city's supply of gun powder. The Powder Magazine's tile roof is typical of very early buildings, as are the 32-inch thick brick walls, which originally would not have had windows. The steep hip roof is punctuated by gables on all sides. The interior roof structure was constructed so that the building would implode were any explosions to occur inside. After a new magazine was built in 1748, this structure was condemned in 1770. Shortly thereafter, the outbreak of the Revolutionary War created a new demand for the old Magazine, and it was again used to store powder. After 1820, the building was used for a variety of things including storage, a printing house, and livery stable. Since 1902 the Powder Magazine has been owned by the South Carolina Society of Colonial Dames, which operates the property as a museum of early Charleston history. The building has recently undergone an extensive archaeological and architectural conservation effort led by the Historic Charleston Foundation. The Powder Magazine is located at 79 Cumberland St. It is open to the public 10am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, 2pm to 5pm on Sunday. Call 843-722-9350 for further information. Circular Congregational Church and Parish House The Circular Congregational Church, a National Historic Landmark, is one of the few examples in Charleston of the adaptation of the Romanesque style that was made popular by archit | |||||||||||||||||||
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